FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 27, 2010 file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, detainees stand inside a cell inside the U.S. run Parwan detention facility near Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan government has begun the process of releasing three dozen prisoners, officials said Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, despite U.S. protests that they are highly dangerous, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

- The Afghan government has begun the process of releasing three dozen prisoners despite U.S. protests that they are highly dangerous, officials said Monday, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops.

The move to release the prisoners prompted an angry denunciation from the U.S. military, which said the 37 prisoners slated for release are "dangerous insurgents who have Afghan blood on their hands" with strong evidence against them to merit further prosecution or investigation - from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosives residue on their clothing.

President Hamid Karzai's government has rebuffed the U.S. claims that the men pose a serious risk of returning to violence if they're released, and used the issue to test his government's relationship with the U.S. as the two sides struggle over the question of a post-2014 foreign presence.

Karzai's spokesman confirmed that the prisoners will be freed within one or two days and condemned the U.S. response.